The Comoros controversial referendum gives more power to the President

President Azali Assoumani can claim victory on the referendum. According to the Independent Electoral Commission of the Comoros, the constitutional amendments reinforcing the President's powers were approved in a referendum by 92.74% of the voters, against 7.26% of the voters who voted "no".

The review of the Constitution allows the President to serve two terms of five consecutive years. The rotating presidency, regime introduced in 2001, which successively assigned the head of state to a candidate from each of the country's three islands and was elected for a single term of five years, is over.

This referendum was boycotted by the opposition who accused the President of authoritarianism and classify it as "illegal". According to them, the constitutional reform cannot be adopted to the extent that there was no national consultation, there was no real referendum. In fact, there was only a party consultation.

Assoumani will also gain the power to scrap other constitutional checks and balances, including the country's three vice presidencies and a clause on secularism, which will be replaced by a statement confirming Islam as the "religion of the state". In the Comoros, 99% of the citizens are Muslims, mainly Sunnis.

This measure may well be associated with the fact that the Comoros are currently following a country policy of aligning themselves with Saudi Arabia. In the current broader political context of the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the Comoros have allied with Saudi Arabia, which is the country's largest donor.

A short profile of the country:

Made up of the three islands of Anjouan, Grande-Comore and Moheli, the small country's land surface is 1 870 square kilometres, with a population of just 800 000.

The Comoros, which means "Islands of the Moon" in Arabic, are situated between Madagascar and Mozambique.